The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Ornithogalum plant, botanically known as Ornithogalum hybrida, and hereinafter referred to by the name xe2x80x98Chesapeake Sunsetxe2x80x99.
The new Ornithogalum is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventors in Beltsville, Md. and Escondido, Calif. The objective of the breeding program was to create new freely-flowering interspecific Ornithogalum hybrids with unique and desirable flower colors.
The new Ornithogalum originated from a cross made by the Inventors of a proprietary selection of Ornithogalum dubium identified as 270-4, not patented, as the male, or pollen, parent with the Ornithogalum hybrida cultivar Sunshine (Ornithogalum dubiumxc3x97O. multifolium), not patented, as the female, or seed, parent. The cultivar Chesapeake Sunset was discovered and selected by the Inventors as a flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross in a controlled environment in Beltsville, Md. in 1993.
Asexual reproduction of the new Ornithogalum by tissue culture in a controlled environment in a laboratory in Beltsville, Md., has shown that the unique features of this new Ornithogalum are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.
The cultivar xe2x80x98Chesapeake Sunsetxe2x80x99 has not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary somewhat with variations in environment such as temperature, daylength, light intensity, and water or nutritional status without, however, any variance in genotype.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Chesapeake Sunsetxe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Chesapeake Sunsetxe2x80x99 as a new and distinct Ornithogalum:
1. Strong, upright and short scapes.
2. Dense corymbose racemes with numerous orange-colored flowers.
3. Glossy dark green leaves.
In side-by-side comparisons conducted by the Inventors in Beltsville, Md., plants of the new Ornithogalum differ from plants of the female parent, the cultivar Sunshine, in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Ornithogalum have longer leaves than plants of the cultivar Sunshine.
2. Plants of the new Ornithogalum have stronger scapes than plants of the cultivar Sunshine.
3. Plants of the new Ornithogalum have orange-colored flowers whereas plants of the cultivar Sunshine have yellow-colored flowers.
In side-by-side comparisons conducted by the Inventors in Beltsville, Md., plants of the new Ornithogalum differ from plants of the male parent, the selection 270-4, in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Ornithogalum are more freely flowering than plants of the selection 270-4.
2. Plants of the new Ornithogalum have stronger scapes than plants of the selection 270-4.
3. Plants of the new Ornithogalum have larger flowers than plants of the selection 270-4.